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Alec Allred headshot

Former Ramseur man runs summer baseball circuit for college-age players

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Alec Allred oversees the Old North State League.

 

RAMSEUR –  Alec Allred is making a career out of baseball and it’s not on the field.

He’s the president of the Old North State League, a summer college circuit that wrapped up what he called a successful season earlier this summer.

“This is my full-time job now, trying to coordinate everything,” Allred said. “It’s a lot that goes into it, but it’s a ton of fun.”

Allred, 27, is from Ramseur and a 2014 graduate of Faith Christian. His family has largely overseen Eastern Randolph Post 81’s program on the American Legion level in recent years.

So finding a role in baseball seemed like a natural pursuit, Allred said. After high school, he had a redshirt year at North Carolina A&T followed by a season at Rockingham Community College and then a couple of seasons with Division III Peace College. Then came time in some independent leagues.

“I’m done playing,” he said. “I held on as long as I could.”

He saw other opportunities, particularly when it came to filling a niche for college-aged players in a wooden bat league. The ONSL began with eight teams and 125 players in 2019, using two fields. One of those was Craven Stadium in Ramseur.

Then during the 2020 pandemic-ravaged season, the ONSL fielded eight teams with bigger rosters and spread out.

“Those other leagues shut down and we were getting guys who had a higher calibre (of experience),” Allred said.

The Ramseur site is no longer used in the ONSL, but the 2022 version of the league had 13 teams with about 400 players. Last Monday, another team was added with a club in Clayton.

Allred, who now lives in Whispering Pines and conducts baseball lessons in the offseason, said he could envision the league growing to 18 teams.

It takes about $40,000 annually to run each team. Players are required to pay to play, but that might tend to create a commitment to stick without throughout the two-month season. Host families help with out-of-area players.

“We’re climbing and slowly getting better players,” Allred said. “My goal is to make it free for players. … You’re always trying to be better and get the league to new heights,”

The venues used by the league are vastly different from city to city. The High Point Hushpuppies play at Truist Point, which is the permanent home of the Atlantic League’s High Point Rockers. High school fields are used in Sanford and Shallotte, while facilities are well past their primes in places such as Reidsville and Swepsonville.

“There’s definitely a big variety of stadiums,” Allred said. “You have some old mill-league fields.”

Rosters generally hold about 30-some players.

Most of the ONSL players come from Division II, Division III or junior colleges – or are about to join teams on those levels. Allred said he has embraced an underdog mentality.

“I do get a little partial to the smaller-school guys,” he said.

Largely, players compete for teams that are local to where they live. About 25 percent of players come from out of the area, Allred said.

The Sandhills Bogeys, who are based in Pinehurst, won the 2022 championship, beating the Hendersonville Honeycrisps in the final.

CrossCountry

Faith Christian girls run to state title

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PLEASANT GARDEN – Faith Christian School twins Karrie Gaines and Kylie Gaines were the top two runners in the North Carolina Christian School Association’s state cross country meet Thursday at Hagan-Stone Park.

The duo led a wave of strong finishes for Faith Christian, which secured the team championship for the second season in a row.

Karrie Gaines posted a time of 20 minutes, 27.81 seconds on the 5-kilometer course to repeat as individual champion. Kylie Gaines was next in 21:42.18.

Faith Christian’s Ruth McLanahan, the 2020 state champion for middle school, was fourth in 23:15.93, Madison Avelino was sixth in 23:43.06, Kassie Gaines placed 12th in 25:40.32, Ellis Joy Mathison was 17th in 26:08.08 and Abby Hicks was 39th in 32:17.43.

“They ran hard and pushed themselves with many of them running their fastest times at this race,” Faith Christian coach Taylor Brunson said.

The top four runners from each team were used for scoring, with Faith Christian posting 11 points. That was good for a comfortable advantage on runner-up Wilson Christian, which had 28.

In the boys’ race, Noah Lester of Faith Christian placed fifth in 19:09.44 seconds. Teammate Shawn Cox was 11th in 19:59.09.

Faith Christian was third in the team standings. Curtis Davis (23rd), Nathan Gardner (43rd). Jonathan Davis (44th), Coy Bertrand (52nd), Luke Brady (53rd) and Cadan Ferguson (54th) rounded out the team’s entries.

The individual winner was Conner Ford of team champion Wilson Christian in 17:57.39.

In the middle school portion of the meet, the Faith Christian boys were the team runner-up in a 4,000-meter run. The team was led by Isaac Harris (17:59.87) in seventh, Gabe Jones (18:01.64) in eighth, Brandon Avelino (19:18.27) in 12th, Joshua Daniel (19:36.78) in 14th, Collin Frye (19:38.43) in 15th and Levi Brown (20:21.79) in 19th.

NCHSAA 

At Kernersville, Jazmin Palma of Uwharrie Charter Academy had the best finish among Randolph County entrants in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s state meet Saturday at Ivey Redmon Sports Complex.

Palma, a freshman, placed 43rd in the Class 1-A race in 23:02.87.

In Class 2-A girls, Providence Grove’s Mia Browder was 45th in 22:12.71.

In Class 2-A boys, the Providence Grove team finished 10th. The Patriots were led by Robert Burton in 65th place in 18:46.12.

Also in Class 2-A boys, Wheatmore’s Zach Hazelwood was 71st in 18:59.03, followed one spot later by Providence Grove’s Logan Stover (19:01.66).

Trevor Brunson 2

Scoring big for Faith Christian

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With more than 2,000 points, Brunson reached new heights

RAMSEUR — By the time Trevor Brunson reached the high school grades at Faith Christian, he was well-known on and off the basketball court.

His name figures to last in the athletic department’s record books for quite some time.

Trevor Brunson has been a standout player for Faith Christian throughout his school years. (Photo courtesy of Brunson family)

Brunson finished with 2,045 career points, averaging about 23 points per game in the process in a four-year varsity career.

This was in the works for quite some time since he moved up to the junior varsity while still in eighth grade.

“I got a lot of experience playing against older guys,” Brunson said. “It just kind of took off from there. Coach (Todd Daniel) trusted me with the ball and said, ‘Just go score.’ ”

Brunson followed instructions well.

He’s Faith Christian’s first player to reach 2,000 points in the 53 years of the school, which now has enrollment of about 330 students.

Brunson has been part of the school since preschool. By the time he became part of the 16-member graduating class in the spring, he was one of four students to be there from start to finish.

Even as some of his basketball credentials grew, he said it was best to continue his school at Faith Christian.

“It’s a different feel,” he said. “I call the whole place my family.”

He stood at about 6-foot-2 as a sophomore. When he played his last game, he was 6-6 – and yet he remained at the guard position, creating some interesting matchups.

“To tower over people is kind of weird,” he said. “At the beginning of my career, I focused a lot on perimeter shots and jump shots. When I first moved to varsity, I was pulled up to be a point guard so I just stuck with it.”

Brunson’s credentials include a two-time all-state selection in the North Carolina Christian School Association.

“He had done well against everybody,” Daniel said. “He played up in ninth grade.”

The 2,000th point came in the second round of this year’s state playoffs against Hilltop Christian. The sequence began with Brunson making a steal.

“And he was gone,” Daniel said.

Brunson drove for a dunk – and was fouled in the process.

“That was super cool,” he said.

The Eagles reached the state semifinals, falling to Berean Baptist Academy of Fayetteville. They finished with a 19-7 record.

Brunson’s impact was widespread.

“Just a phenomenal team leader. A very unselfish player,” Daniel said. “He’s very adept at driving and finishing at the basket.”

Brunson was involved in travel ball teams in fourth and fifth grade. He said he appreciated the staff at Faith Christian encouraging him as he came through the system and “they pushed me extra hard because they saw something.”

Brunson, who did all his prep scoring before turning 18 years old in April, is headed to Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. His connection there began more than two years ago when he went to a summer camp on campus.

The Bruins are making the transition from the National Christian College Athletic Association to NCAA Division III. Brunson plans to major in sport management.

He said he hopes his influence can follow a similar path to his time at Faith Christian.

“I had those thoughts, transferring out to somewhere bigger. I knew God wanted me there and He could use me in many ways,” he said. “I had a super career and I know I couldn’t do it without God and my coaches and teammates. They trusted me.”

 

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